Sullivan knew Payet was a flawed individual

West Ham Chairman David Sullivan has admitted he knew Dimitri Payet was a flawed individual before they bought him but added he was a fantastic servant to the club for the first twelve months.

Speaking to Jim White and Tony Cottee about Payet on Talksport this morning Sullivan said: “I think we knew Dimitri was flawed when we got him or £10 or £12 million pounds, I think we paid ten and a half million pounds which was a fantastic buy but we knew we bought a flawed individual. We knew it was an individual who could well go on strike. He has done it all before and that’s well he never really reached his full potential as a player and why big clubs steered clear of him.”

“However I must say, he was a fantastic servant for the club, gave us 18 wonderful months, particularly the first 12 months. We didn’t want to sell him but we got two and a half times what we paid for him and you have to say whether that was good business. It is not what we wanted but at West Ham we sometimes have to sell, we wouldn’t have sold unless we had to sell him. We had meeting after meeting with him, he wanted out, the manager wanted him out, he didn’t want an unhappy camp and you have to (give) support” 

“I would have made him stick it out for six months personally and given him a hard time but if the manager says it is unsettling the whole camp you have to support the manager”

Listen to Sullivan’s full 11-minute interview below